Aces go flat in loss to Lynx, drop to .500 through first 10 games

Las Vegas guard Jackie Young looks to create space against Minnesota guard Natisha Hiedeman. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

This year’s Las Vegas Aces find themselves in relatively deep waters just 10 games into the new year.

Las Vegas was trounced at home by Minnesota, 100-86, Tuesday, June 11 from the Michelob Ultra Arena. The struggling Aces team is now on a three-game losing streak with four losses in their last five games.

That three-game losing streak is the first for the franchise since 2019.

“Everybody goes through their moments,” forward A’ja Wilson said. “I don’t think we’re going to press the panic button right now. There’s really no need.”

Las Vegas, at 5-5, are .500 or worse this late into a season for the first time since the 2018 season. Last season’s team went 34-6 on the way to a second straight title.

Moreover, the Aces are 1-3 in Commissioner Cup games this season. The team has played in each of the last two Commissioner Cup championship games, the only franchise in the league to play in more than one.

“Obviously, everybody is going to look at the record but we can’t pay attention to that right now,” Wilson said. “It’s just going to make things worse so right now for us, in order to move forward I definitely think we’re going to get in tune with ourselves.”

Hoping to avoid a four-game losing streak, Las Vegas will now head to Arizona for a date with Phoenix. That’s set for Thursday, June 13 from the Footprint Center with tip-off set for 7 p.m.

Tuesday’s contest was the second Aces home game in the last 17 days.

Aces head coach Becky Hammon looks to give instructions from the sidelines inside the Michelob Ultra Arena. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

“This is a long, long, long ass season,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to press the panic button, I’m not going to let my teammates press the panic button because I’m still betting on us.”

Both Las Vegas and Minnesota came out on fire from the field and more specifically from beyond the arc. Early in the second quarter, the two clubs had combined to shoot 12-for-19 from three but once the Aces began to slow down, things began to flip.

The home team went from being up eight to being down eight after a lopsided 30-17 second quarter for the Lynx. Things got even worse coming out of halftime en route to a 29-12 third quarter for the visitors.

“Terrible,” Hammon said. “That’s my general assessment. Just wasn’t physical, we followed them around. There’s 100 reasons why things started to fall apart there.”

Tempers began to flare in the third quarter with a couple of small kerfuffles that were ultimately calmed down quickly. At one point in the fourth quarter, Las Vegas found itself down 20 points.

The Aces raced out to score 10 points in the first three and a half minutes of the fourth quarter but by then, the deficit was far too large to overcome.

“It’s not our offense,” guard Kelsey Plum said. “It’s our defense. That’s what we’ve always hung our hat on. We won the last two years because we were the number one defense.”

Role players Alysha Clark and Megan Gustafson shot the lights out in the opening quarter, teaming up for four made three-pointers without a miss. Gustafson would end the night in double-figures for the first time with the Las Vegas franchise, closing with 11 points.

Las Vegas forward A'ja Wilson finishes through contact during the team's home loss to Minnesota. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

Wilson continued her consecutive stretch of games with at least 20 points with 28 points, eight rebounds and two steals.

“It’s my job, it’s what I do,” she said. “My teammates make sure I am in a great spot to be able to thrive and I hope that I can do the same with them. The records are nice, they look good on paper, but I have bigger things that I need to focus on.”

Plum recorded 13 points with 11 coming in the first half as she accounted as the only other Aces starter in double-figures. At the conclusion of the third quarter, Wilson had 19 to go along with all of Plum’s points but that was rivaled by four with at least 12 points or more on the Lynx end of the floor.

“We’re a fun group to be around but losing sucks,” Hammon said. “We’ve got to put the work first – the trust. I’m not quite sure why the trust isn’t there but that’s something we know we can fix.”

Guard Jackie Young made her return to the lineup after a one-game absence. She’d make three of her eight attempts, scoring six points to go along with four assists in 22 minutes of play.

Las Vegas is still without three-time champion Chelsea Gray as she continues to recover from a left lower leg injury.

“I think coach had a really good analogy the other day,” Plum said. “This is not an excuse but when you bake a cake or you make anything really and you take out a main ingredient like Chelsea Gray out of the equation, the food tastes different.”